Please note:
This article has been slightly edited from the original version to remain
factual in the face of newer information not available during the original
publication. Edits have been approved by the original author, Lawrence
Eng. All changes made are [in italics and brackets].

In
the Eyes of Hideaki Anno, Writer and Director of EvangelionBy
Lawrence Eng

"Evangelion is my life and I have put everything
I know into this work. This is my entire life. My life itself." -Hideaki
Anno(translation from 11/96 Newtype in Protoculture
Addicts #43)

As we conclude Evangelion tonight, some
of you may leave the series feeling somewhat baffled. You will probably
leave with many of your questions unanswered, and you might be thinking
to yourself, "What was the guy who made this thinking?!" Don't worry, you're
not alone. The ending of Eva was controversial in Japan, too. On the other
hand, instead of hoping that the last episode of Evangelion will feature
epic revelations or have huge flashy battles, take it for what it is, and
think about what the director tried to achieve.

At Anime Expo in California last summer,
I had the chance to attend two panel discussions during which director
Hideaki Anno (who constantly wore an orange shirt and shades) discussed
anime, his involvement with Gainax studio, and Evangelion, which some American
fans had seen by that time. I had only seen the first three episodes, so
I didn't quite grasp why Eva was such a hot topic of discussion, but I
nonetheless listened intently.

A few people asked Anno about why he did
the final two episodes the way he did, while noting that they felt the
ending was confusing. Anno replied, via his translator, that he did
not think there was anything wrong with the last two episodes at all and
that if we didn't like the ending of Eva, that was our problem -- at which
point he picked up the microphone and, speaking in English, said "Too bad."
Myself and others thought this was kind of funny at the time.

According to an interview of Toshio Okada
-- founder and former head of Gainax, personal friend of Anno, and affectionately
referred to as the "Otaking" by fans around the world -- Anno received
a lot of flak from Japanese fans about the ending of Evangelion, and by
the time Anime Expo came around, the last thing Anno wanted to talk
about was the ending of Eva. As such, Okada was not surprised by Anno's
tough attitude toward the people at the convention. In the
interview (which was held at Anime America that same summer), Okada related
to fans how Anno and his staff, in addition to having troubles with
the show's producers (Tatsunoko), simply did not have enough time and could
not think of a way to nicely end the series. Okada based his information
on conversations between himself and Anno as Eva was being finished, and
he told American fans that Anno was very stressed out about the whole thing.

An interesting thing to note is that unlike
other Gainax anime series, Eva was written as it went along (sort of like
manga), while other Gainax shows such as Gunbuster started with the ending
being written first and the rest of the anime leading up to it. Okada said
that this may have caused some problems near the end, with the writers
unsure of how the series should conclude.

Apparently, Anno shaved his head (a la
Rokutanda) in reconciliation to the Japanese fans prior to coming to America
(his hair had grown back, I guess). Anno, as late as the November '96 issue
of Newtype magazine, still denied that the last two episodes were a "lousy
job" and argued that the Gainax crew worked incredibly hard to finish the
series, which he thinks "ended beautifully." He regretted that fans cannot
appreciate Gainax's efforts.

Asked about the violence and uncharacteristic
sex scene in episodes 18 and 19, Anno said that the scenes were necessary
to develop the story and "to understand real life." He felt that children
should be exposed early to the realities of life so that they do
not grow up weak and sheltered and so that they will become immune to some
of the harsh situations they will eventually experience. Many fans at the
convention thought that this was an interesting viewpoint on his part.

Do you wonder why Eva got so dark and psychological
near the end? After all, Anno is the guy who directed Nadia of the Mysterious
Seas, one of the liveliest and funniest anime I've ever watched. According
to Anno, from episode 16 on, he began reading books about human psychology
and became very interested. He wanted to explore "what the human
mind is all about inside."

"I wrote about myself. My friend lent me
a book on psychological illness and this gave me a shock, as if I finally
found what I needed to say," he says in the November Newtype.

Anno-san, who I respect and consider a
truly top-notch director, wanted Eva to be ground-breaking and wanted it
to change the industry, urging animators in Japan to stray away from anime
stories which have become conventional and overused. He expressed his disappointment
that Eva did not have that type of impact. On the other hand, he thought
that the American audience was very receptive to the series, which gave
himhope.

Two Eva films are out there. One has just
come out, recapping episodes 1 to 24, and the other is being made,
[which
is a completely new version of episodes 25 and 26]. [This version is based
on the original ending scripts Hideaki Anno had written for the TV series,
but was rejected by the Japanese network, TV Tokyo, following pressure
from the Japanese PTA. (source: The End of Evangelion theatrical program
(RCB) and Protoculture Addicts, Issue 42)]

I leave you with a quote:

"Evangelion is like a puzzle, you know.
Anyperson can see it and give his/her ownanswer. In other words, we're offeringviewers to think by themselves, so that
eachperson can imagine his/her own world.
Wewill never offer the answers, even in
thetheatrical version. As for many Evangelionviewers, they may expect us to provide
the'all-about Eva' manuals, but there is
nosuch thing. Don't expect to get answers
bysomeone. Don't expect to be catered to
allthe time. We all have to find our ownanswers." -PA #43, translated by Miyako
Graham from 11/96 Newtype

The Toshio Okada Interview can be found
at http://www.j-pop.com/. For the full Protoculture Addicts article and
Anime Expo newsletters, contact me directly if you want to see them.